Archive for the ‘Seth Nieman’ tag

When opportunity knocks, you have to jump on it. NASCAR racing has, for the most part, been a major part of my life since a young age. In fact, for the longest time, stock car racing was the only form of motor sports I would entertain myself with. I’ve been lucky enough to witness some of NASCAR’s biggest legends before they retired: Pearson, Petty (Richard), Allison (Bobby), Gant, Yarborough, Baker (Buddy), and countless others. I witnessed Petty take home his 199th win at Dover in May of ’84, and one of Yarborough’s last wins, in a Ford, at Talladega in ’85. Venturing into other forms of auto racing took time, and within the last dozen years, I have taken a strong liking to road racing, even open wheels.

Having recently moved from my native Connecticut, buried knee-deep in boxes and packing material – not to mention remodeling the house we just purchased – it was a welcomed break to attend the New England Grand Prix at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park. Fresh from their 24-hour endurance race in Le Mans, 24 teams quickly made their way home for stop number four on the North American continent. After watching the American Le Mans Series on television the last few year’s, I couldn’t wait to witness the Aston Martins battle it out with the Corvettes, and the Porsche/Ferrari on-track combat.

Early morning on the infield hill looking towards Big Bend
Arriving at the 1.54-mile facility at seven in the morning, we found ourselves in thick fog, though it was quickly burning off in the early morning light. The infield hill was quiet, affording us the opportunity to stake out a perfect spot to view the days main event, and six support races. After placing our chairs and cooler, we wondered down the hill and into a quiet paddock – the teams were slowly making their way into the track as well.

The new Penske Porsche team begins to prepare their LMP2 racers: They occupied the front row with drivers Sascha Maassen/Lucas Luhr in #6 and Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas in #7.

The empty paddock provided us the opportunity to get an unobstructed view of some of the other teams that would compete later in the day.

The LMP1 Dyson Racing Lola driven by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith

LMP1 favorite, the famed Audi R8 making its final start with Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello behind the wheel. The car wore all of its victories from its storied career as the R10 waits its turn

In GT2 Class, Jorg Bergmeister, Michael Petersen and Patrick Long would pilot their Porsche 911 GT3

Team Ferrari 430 GTs from Risi Competizione during the early morning hours

Aston Martin DBR9 #007 to be driven by Tomas Enge & Darren Turner

Team car #009 driven by Pedro Lamy & Stephane Sarrazin

As the morning hours progressed, the paddock began to fill with team members and fans alike. By nine in the morning, the first of the support races were underway, and pre-race inspections were in full swing by late morning.

One of the Flying Lizard Porsche 911s, to be driven by Lonnie Pechnik & Seth Nieman, is scrutinized during pre-race tech inspection

The Ferrari driven by Mario Dominguez & Marc Gene waits its turn with inspectors. Note the damage to the right rear fender from contact during Friday’s practice.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz brought two Fords.

The morning warm up went without noteworthy incident, and by mid-afternoon, the cars were brought to the front stretch for staging. For a brief 15 minutes, fans were allowed to walk among the racing machines until the call to clear the grid was given. At precisely 3 PM, the engines were started, and the 2-hour, 45-minute sprint race came to a rolling start after two parade laps.

LMP2 Penske Porsche #6 (in 2nd place) leads the LMP1 Audi on the opening lap heading into the Esses, while the rest of the field exits Big Bend.

In GT1, Ron Fellows in the Corvette #3 leads the #007 Aston Martin early in the sprint race. The Aston Martin would eventually overtake the Corvette, and a race-long battle ensued between the two teams.

The GT2 Class was hotly contested throughout the day, especially early on.

Early contact sent the Ferrari to the pits for a tire change relegating them to an 11th place finish overall, and 5th in class

Overall and LMP2 leading Penske Porsche caught the backmarkers early.

The first full-course caution flew when the GT1 Corvette #4 (Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta) was side-swiped by Chris Dyson (LMP1 #20) exiting the Esses. Both were able to continue after repairs.

Ron Fellows sits 3rd in class behind the Aston Martins.

After a second full-course caution flew for an accident involving a Ferrari in the back stretch (heavy contact that damaged the wall behind the tire barrier) the Audi found itself in contention for both class and overall victory, here in 2nd place between the two Penske’s entering the Esses.

Meanwhile, the Aston Martins opened a sizable lead over the Corvette, seen nearing the exit of Big Bend. The Corvette would eventually close the gap, split the Astons, and become the best battle on the track in the last 5 minutes of racing.

The Audi fights its way around the LMP2 Porsches, lapping the Penske #6 three times before the finish. Only the Penske #7 finished on the same lap as the LMP1 Audi.

The Audi R8 after taking its 48th overall win, and 50th class victory since arriving in the American Le Mans Series.

The Audi was driving to victory by Allan McNish after passing Romain Dumas in the Penske Porsche with 30 minutes remaining in the race. While it looked like the LMP2 Porsche would upset the Audi favorite, the eventual margin of victory was nearly 12 seconds.

The Audi R8 is to be replaced by the R10 at Miller Motorsports Park, race 5 of the season. The R10 has already seen action, winning at both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the recently completed 24 Hours of Le Mans. Dumas and the Penske team took home the LMP2 class victory.

The Corvette dominance came to an end in the tightest finish of the day in the GT1 class. Aston Martin picked up its first win of the season with driver Pedro Lemy in the teams #009, which crossed the finish line 0.033 seconds ahead of the Corvette driven by Johnny O’Connell.

In GT2, Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long pushed their new #31 Porsche to the class win for Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing. Coming in second was the Flying Lizard Porsche with drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Wolf Henzler.